


when the world seems to shine

by somehowunbroken



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 12:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7222939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's just ice cream! Totally. That's it. (Not ice cream <i>dates</i>. Right?)</p><p>(Wrong.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	when the world seems to shine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Menacherie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menacherie/gifts).



> written for menacherie for the june flashfic exchange! i did my best to include your likes, menacherie, so here's a hodgepodge "didn't know they were friends-to-lovers dating while in high school" AU. i hope you enjoy!
> 
> the title is indeed from "that's amore." i have no shame.

Jordan isn't loitering.

Or, well. He's totally loitering, but he's trying really hard to pass it off as _not_ loitering. He's… waiting. For totally legitimate reasons.

"Ebs!"

Jordan turns, smiling almost automatically as Taylor crashes through the front doors of the school. He's got a huge smile on his face as he jogs over, bookbag slapping against his back. "Hey, man. Everything okay?"

Taylor's smile gets impossibly wider. "Yeah!"

"Good," Jordan says. "Let's get out of here, eh? Hanging around after all the teachers are gone creeps me out."

Taylor laughs, and Jordan can't help smiling back at him. Taylor's an infectiously happy guy, and Jordan appreciates it, he really does. "Ice cream?" he suggests. "I gotta tell you what Coach wanted."

"Ice cream," Jordan agrees as they walk towards his car. "I'm guessing he's not throwing you off the team because you don't have a perfect grade in algebra."

"Shut up," Taylor says, tossing his gear bag into the back of Jordan's car before sliding into the front seat. It's already adjusted to Taylor's ridiculous height, so all of his wiggling around is for show. Or from excitement; with Taylor in this kind of mood, it can be hard to tell. "It was a legit concern, okay? They throw guys off the team when they're not keeping their grades up!"

"You got a C on one quiz," Jordan says. "One. And you had the flu that week."

"Legit," Taylor repeats as Jordan starts the car and heads towards The Creamery.

"Paranoid," Jordan shoots back.

Taylor snorts, but the rest of the drive is pretty quiet. Taylor's buzzing with whatever it is Coach told him, but apparently he's going to wait until they've got their ice cream to say anything. Jordan's curious, but he's a hundred percent sure he can outwait Taylor.

He's done it before. They grew up playing hockey together; Taylor's the first person who ever got in a fight over Jordan during a game, and Jordan's the one who made him ice his hand after, because his fingers were swelling from how terrible he was at fighting. He hasn't gotten any better in the ten years since then, but it hasn't stopped him from jumping in when he thinks he's needed.

Jordan's the one Taylor called when he'd been drafted to the OHL, too. Taylor's good, maybe even great; he'd been so torn, but his parents had eventually won the argument, convincing Taylor to go the college hockey route instead of major juniors. Jordan had tried not to jump for joy when Taylor had finally made his decision, but they're best friends. They have been for years. Jordan can't imagine life without Taylor.

"They're naming me captain next year," Taylor blurts out when they pull into The Creamery.

Jordan pulls carefully into a parking spot before turning to face Taylor. "Captain? Really?"

"Really really," Taylor says, smiling so widely that Jordan feels something swoop in his stomach. Pride, probably. "They said they think I'm a good leader. That, uh, me choosing to stay with the team instead of going to the O showed…" He trails off and shrugs. "But yeah. Captain, holy shit."

"Holy shit," Jordan agrees, smiling so hard his face hurts from it. "C'mon, let's go in. I'm buying you celebration ice cream."

"It's your turn anyway," Taylor says as they climb out.

"But you can get sprinkles," Jordan replies. "Celebration sprinkles."

"And a cherry," Taylor says bargains, opening the door for Jordan. "And whipped cream."

"Who puts whipped cream on top of a cherry?" Jordan asks, frowning, but he can't hold his expression for long in the face of Taylor's offended glare. He's laughing as they walk up to the counter.

"Hi, guys!" Connor says brightly from behind the ice cream case. He's got a blue Creamery apron on and one of the little paper boat hats they make trainees wear.

Taylor grins at him. "Hey, Davo. New job?"

"Yeah," Connor says, shrugging a little. "My parents said they'd go halvsies on new skates for my birthday, so I figured doing a few afternoons a week here would do the trick for me."

"Good deal," Jordan says approvingly. "And, hey, did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Connor asks, leaning in. He's a freshman, so he tends to get left out of a lot of the team gossip.

Jordan nudges Taylor, whose grin hasn't faltered since he came out of the school. "They're making me captain next year," he says.

Connor's got an expressive face, so it's not hard to see how happy he is for Taylor. "Hallsy! That's awesome! Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Taylor says, still beaming. "Not that you'll be sticking around, Mr. Exceptional Status, but thanks anyway."

Connor blushes and it is, frankly, adorable. Jordan is abruptly reminded of the very serious talking-to Ference had given him about not adopting freshmen, and he once again considers ignoring it. "Well, you know. That doesn't mean I'll get drafted."

Taylor and Jordan snort pretty much in unison, and Connor blushes harder, somehow. "Right," Taylor says. "Jordan's buying me a sundae. Chocolate, please."

"I didn't say a sundae," Jordan objects, mostly for the sake of objecting.

"You said sprinkles, I said whipped cream and a cherry," Taylor replies. "Back me up here, Davo. That sound like a sundae to you?"

"Sundaes come with chocolate syrup, too," Connor says very seriously. Taylor pouts for a second, but then Connor adds, "But you totally deserve a sundae, Captain Hallsy."

"You are the best freshman," Taylor crows. "I'm making you honorary alternate captain next year, even if you ditch us for the O."

Jordan laughs. "We'll just put up that photo of you posing in your sweater," he teases. "We'll get Leon to draw an A on it."

"Send me pictures of my picture," Connor says, grinning. "What do you want, Ebs?"

"Strawberries and cream," Jordan says. "With gummy bears."

Connor wrinkles his nose. "Gross. I mean, okay, but gross."

"We all make bad choices sometimes," Taylor says solemnly. "Jordan's are mostly ice cream-related. It's sad, but it's forgivable."

"I guess," Connor says, heaving a sigh as he starts scoping their ice cream. "I don't think gummy bears on ice cream are forgivable, honestly."

"See if I tip you," Jordan says, pretending to be outraged. "Worst customer service. Wow."

"You love me," Connor says cheekily, carrying Taylor's sundae bowl over to the toppings counter and piling on what is probably way more toppings than he's supposed to.

"Remind me why," Jordan grouses.

"I'm good at hockey," Connor says promptly. "And I'm gonna give you extra gummy bears."

Jordan pretends to think it over before nodding. "Okay. Good reasons."

Connor beams as he hands Taylor's sundae over and starts scooping Jordan's. "It's the gummy bears, don't even lie."

"Why would I lie?" Jordan asks. "It's definitely the gummy bears."

Connor laughs as he puts an actually obscene amount of gummy bears on Jordan's ice cream before handing it over. "I'll even give you the employee discount," he promises as he walks towards the register. "I'm allowed, once a day."

"You're the best," Jordan says as Connor rings them up. "Favorite freshman. Nobody tell Darnell."

"Darnell knows," Taylor says, rolling his eyes. "Darnell is taking it as a personal challenge to better himself."

Connor rolls his eyes as he takes Jordan's money. "Darnell's going to put shaving cream in my skates again, that's what Darnell's about," he says. "But in a nice way."

"Only you could think a shaving cream shoe check is a nice thing," Jordan says. "Even Hallsy doesn't think that."

"Whatever," Connor says dismissively. "Enjoy your celebration ice cream date, guys."

Taylor has a mouth full of ice cream, so it's up to Jordan to splutter it out. "Uh. Not a date. Just.. ice cream."

Connor raises an eyebrow. "It's not a big deal, guys. I mean, I know it's a _big deal_ , but, like. Nobody cares."

By this point, Taylor has finished his bite of ice cream. Jordan's glad, because it means he's not the only one staring at Connor with his mouth open a little bit. "Davo," Taylor says slowly. "Wait. You think we're…" He trails off and motions between himself and Jordan.

Now Connor's frowning. "Wait, you're not dating? For real?"

"What would even make you think that?" Jordan asks, trying not to sound too hysterical. Taylor's… yeah, okay, he's important to Jordan _that way_ , but they're not _that way_. Jordan's pretty invested in not thinking about it.

"You're…" Connor says, glancing back and forth between them. "Wow. You're really not pulling my leg." He sounds stunned. "Wow, okay. I need to go text Nuge. Enjoy your not-a-date."

And with that, he power walks into the back of the store, not looking back even once.

"What the hell," Taylor says, staring after him.

Jordan forces himself to shrug a little. "Let's just eat our ice cream," he tries.

Taylor shakes himself a little. "Yeah. Yeah, let's."

It's not awkward, not exactly, but it's at least a little… not normal. Jordan can't stop thinking about Connor thinking they were here on a date, and now that he's past the initial surprise of it, he can see how Connor maybe could have thought that. He and Taylor are close, and they have a lot of off-ice things that they do together pretty regularly. Some of it is hockey-related, but a lot of it isn't. Everyone knows about their ice cream thing, and Taylor had talked last week in the locker room about the movie they'd gone to see, and Jordan was going to ask if Taylor wanted to go to the mall after this to help Jordan pick out a birthday present for his mom, and…

Yeah, okay. Jordan can definitely see where Connor was coming from.

"So, uh," he starts, but Taylor blurts out, "Wait, holy shit, I think we're dating."

Jordan doesn't actually know how to respond to that.

"Um," he tries after a minute. Taylor looks somewhere between stunned and embarrassed, and Jordan has no idea what his own face is doing.

He's saved from having to respond by Nuge running into The Creamery, beelining for their table, and sitting down in one of the open chairs. "Before you freak out," he starts.

"Too late," Taylor says. "Like. What the hell, Nuge."

Nuge sighs. "Apparently nobody told Connor he wasn't supposed to tell you."

Jordan's starting to revise his opinion on Nuge saving him from anything at all. "Tell us what?"

"That you're dating," Nuge says patiently. "We figured you guys would figure it out eventually, and we had a plan for if you didn't."

"A plan," Jordan echoes. "For… us dating."

"For getting you guys to realise that you kind of already are," Nuge says. "Ferknuckle has a PowerPoint and everything."

"There's a PowerPoint?" Taylor asks. "There's… wow. I almost want to see it."

"He'll probably show you if you ask," Nuge offers. "He's pretty proud of it. He found a GIF of lions wrestling and it's the cutest freaking thing."

"Aww," Taylor says, smiling.

"Would you focus?" Jordan exclaims. "Does the whole team think we're dating?"

Nuge shrugs a little and looks away. "I mean. Most of the freshman don't. Probably."

"Davo did," Jordan points out.

"I said _most_ ," Nuge replies. "Also, Connor's a smart guy."

Jordan is, yet again, speechless. Fortunately, this time Taylor comes to his rescue. "Okay, Nuge, that's all… crazycakes, honestly, but. Good talk." He points across The Creamery with his spoon. "We need you to go away now."

"Don't take this out on Davo," Nuge says seriously as he stands up. "He didn't mean to offend you or whatever. Don't make him feel bad about it. Blame me if you have to."

Nuge knows damn well they're not going to blame him for anything. He's the third part of their best friends trio, except now Jordan's thinking back on things Nuge had suddenly been too busy to do with them, and it's things like movies or grabbing a bite to eat or hanging out when someone's parents weren't home. Date things, Jordan realises.

"We're not blaming anyone," Jordan says as Nuge walks away.

Nuge just nods and keeps walking. Jordan watches as he goes up to the counter, says something to the girl behind the register, and is waved into the back room, where Connor disappeared earlier. He hasn't been back out since.

"Wait, are Nuge and Davo…" Jordan asks, watching as the girl behind the counter scrubs really industriously at the ice cream case. Jordan thinks she might be very deliberately not looking in their direction.

Taylor kicks at Jordan's shin. "I don't know, but we can ask them later. Better question." He waits until Jordan's looking at him. "Are _we_?"

"Are we," Jordan repeats. He takes a bite of his mostly-soupy ice cream to give himself a chance to not answer that question.

"I asked first," Taylor says.

Jordan rolls his eyes, but Taylor just looks at him. He probably can't get away with using his ice cream as a diversionary tactic forever, and besides, the gummy bears are starting to stick to the bottom of the cup. It might be time to admit defeat. "I don't know?" he tries after a moment.

"I kind of think we are," Taylor says.

"Okay," Jordan says cautiously.

"And I'm kind of okay with that," Taylor goes on, looking down. He's stirring his ice cream into a weird, gooey puddle, and by the look on his face, it's the most fascinating thing he's ever seen.

Jordan swallows. "Uh. Me too."

Taylor drops his spoon and looks up from his ice cream mess. "Wait, you are?"

"Yes?" Jordan says. "I mean, yeah. I'm pretty okay with it."

Taylor's smile is slow this time, but it's still one of Jordan's favorite expressions in the world. "Okay, cool," he says. "So we're doing this."

"Sounds good to me," Jordan says, grinning. "Hey, Taylor?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go see a movie," Jordan says. "You and me. No Nuge invited."

Taylor's smile is almost blinding. "It's a date."

**Author's Note:**

> all my thanks to ari for a quick beta. <3


End file.
